Latest Semiconductor News Released on July 30 to August 5, 2023

Global semiconductor sales down 17.3% year-on-year in 2Q, 2023

Global semicon sales is totally $124.5 billion in 2Q2023, up 4.7% from the 1Q2023 but down 17.3% from the2Q2022, according to US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

In a statement last Friday (Aug 4), SIA said the figure was 4.7% higher quarter-on-quarter. It said global sales for the month of June 2023 were US$41.5 billion, an increase of 1.7% compared to the previous month.

UMC reports sales for July 2023

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) today announced its consolidated operating results for the second quarter of 2023.

Second quarter consolidated revenue was NT$56.30 billion, increasing 3.8% QoQ from NT$54.21 billion in 1Q23. Compared to a year ago, 2Q23 revenue declined 21.9% YoY from NT$72.06 billion in 2Q22. Consolidated gross margin for 2Q23 was 36.0%. Net income attributable to the shareholders of the parent was NT$15.64 billion, with earnings per ordinary share of NT$1.27.

The company pointed out a few days ago that due to the weaker than expected overall terminal and Chinese market demand, coupled with the weak overall economy, customers carefully manage inventory, and the company expects that the weak market demand will continue until the fourth quarter.

CoreWeave secures $2.3 bn debt financing facility

CoreWeave, a specialized cloud provider, has raised $2.3 billion in a debt facility led by Magnetar Capital and Blackstone and secured by Nvidia chips, as it expands to meet growing AI workloads. The unusual use of the Nvidia H100, a highly sought-after chip that can be used as collateral to power AI computing, underscores the value of such hardware in the capital-intensive AI arms race.

Western Digital's first-quarter forecast disappoints as weak cloud demands

Western Digital on Monday forecast a bigger-than-expected first-quarter loss and revenue below Wall Street targets as weak demand, primarily in its cloud business, forced it to cut production capacity. The company said it expected the current-quarter loss to include a charge of about $200 million to $220 million from underutilization of factories, sending its shares down about 2 percent in after-hours trading.

Wissam Jabre, the company's CFO, said in June that will take several more quarters to clear excess inventory. Their cloud-related revenue fell 53% to $994 million in the quarter ended June 30. Western Digital expects an adjusted loss of between $2.10 and $1.80 per share, compared with a forecast loss of $1.40 per share.

Mitsubishi Electric buys stake in Novel Crystal Technology

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation announced today that it has taken an equity position in Novel Crystal Technology, Inc., a Japanese company that develops gallium oxide wafers, a promising candidate. Mitsubishi Electric intends to accelerate the development of high-quality energy-saving power semiconductors to support global decarbonization.

Novel Crystal Technology, one of the first companies in the world to develop and sell gallium oxide wafers for power semiconductors, is now a leading producer of these products. So Mitsubishi Electric will use its manufacturing in the production of its gallium oxide power semiconductors technology to accelerate the development of its energy-efficient gallium oxide power semiconductor.

TSMC agrees to more oversight of its Arizona plant construction

TSMC signed a voluntary protection plan with the Arizona state government that it has agreed to accept the state's safety supervision and review of construction workers that are higher than federal standards. 

“Under this agreement, TSMC will adhere to requirements higher than those at the federal level,” the Democratic governor said. “These additional safety measures include greater transparency for workers, closer oversight from the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health and increased training for foremen and all hands.”

The factory, located in the northern suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, is TSMC's first factory in the United States.

Qualcomm forecasts sales below estimates as smartphone slump persists

Qualcomm released its sales forecast for the current quarter, indicating that demand for smartphones remains weak. The company is taking steps to reduce expenses and has already begun layoffs.

According to a Bloomberg report on August 2, Qualcomm said in a statement that sales in the fourth fiscal quarter will reach 8.1 billion to 8.9 bn US dollars. The midpoint of that range was well below analysts' average estimate of $8.79 billion.

LGD has entered Apple’s Vision Pro Micro OLED supply chain

LG Display has entered the Vision Pro silicon-based OLED (Micro OLED) supply chain, breaking Sony's exclusive supply.

The company said that becoming a silicon-based OLED supplier for Apple's Vision Pro is just the start. As other manufacturers break through the bottleneck of Micro OLED technology, Samsung Display and others have the opportunity to enter the Vision Pro silicon-based OLED supply chain. At that time, Sony's position in Apple's new OLED supply chain system will gradually decrease, and the cost of silicon-based OLEDs will also have the opportunity to decrease.